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Using large format paper with Linux and the Epson WorkForce WF-7520 printer
Update: Nope, I can’t get this to work any more.
I have an Epson WorkForce WF-7520, and I really like it: excellent built-in duplex large format scanner with ADF, CIFS network storage, giant paper bins, photo quality printing up to 330×482 mm, only slightly expensive print cartridges… Under Linux, though, it’s not so well behaved, especially if you want to print on large format paper. This is the workaround I developed:
- Put the B-size/11×17″ paper in Tray 1 (the upper one), and the Letter paper in Tray 2. This, unfortunately, matters — the driver that can print large format can only access the upper tray. On the setup menu on the printer console, tell the printer which tray holds what size of paper.
- Install the epson-inkjet-printer-escpr driver; it should be in the standard Ubuntu repos. Define a printer (wf7520-lf, for example) that uses this driver. Set the paper size to “US B 11 x 17 in”.
- Ensure that the lsb and lsb-printing packages are installed:
sudo apt-get install lsb lsb-printing - Download and install the non-free epson-201115w driver from the EPSON Download Center. Define a printer (I used wf-7520 for the name) using this driver, making sure that the correct PPD (epson-inkjet-printer 1.0.0-1lsb3.2 (Seiko Epson Corporation LSB 3.2)) is used. Set it up to use Letter paper, and (important!) set the source to Paper Cassette 2. You might want to make this printer the system default.
To print to large format, use the command:
lp -d wf7520-lf -o PageSize=USB file.pdf
To print regular size, just send the job to the wf-7520 device.
(modified from my Ask Ubuntu question/answer: Selecting Large Format Paper: what printing options work?)
Update for the (rightly) confused: Epson appear to have hoiked US B / 11×17″ support for this printer. Here are my PPDs:
- Epson-WF-7520_Series-epson-driver.ppd — this is from the non-free driver. It doesn’t need to support large format.
- wf7520-lf.ppd — this is the large-format driver I use. Compare it with the epson-inkjet-printer-escpr PPD in the Debian code repo, and you’ll find all references to many paper sizes gone from it. Hmm …
Copying PPDs from one driver to another may not work, but you’ve likely nothing to lose.
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ZX Spectrum → Canada
Ah, the ZX Spectrum… so many hours of my youth wasted on this book-sized computer. Now anything with a display can emulate one in its spare processor cycles, the 30 year old hardware itself is a bit chunky:
That’s a lot of discrete components; all through-hole, too. I brought this one back from the UK earlier this year in the hope of getting it working.First item that needed attention was the power supply. The original had a 230 V AC to 9 V DC, 1.4 A supply of some extremely dodgy regulation. I replace this with a Circuit-Test AC/DC Adapter – 9 V DC 2.2 A, which will have plenty of current. Since the adapter has a 2.1 mm centre positive DC barrel connector, and the Spectrum uses a centre negative connector, I used the soldering opportunity to wire in an inline switch. The Speccy’s famous lack of a power or reset switch really isn’t part of my retrocomputing experience.
Next up, bypass the UK PAL TV modulator. This required disassembling the computer, and disconnecting the legendarily fragile keyboard membrane edge connectors. It’s a very simple soldering job to re-route the composite video feed (dot crawl and all) from the PCB to the Video Out. Put it all back together, plug it into the TV, and:
… another partial success. My TV doesn’t talk 50 Hz PAL composite well, giving an oversized black and white display. I’ll either need to buy a PAL to NTSC converter box, or spring for a tiny monitor which supports both standards.
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And this, kids, is why we rig our dipoles with black Dacron …
I guess the “UV Resistant!” nylon rope I used to rig my mini-G5RV wasn’t that resistant. Two summers of Scarborough sun did for it, turning the casing into friable dust. I knew that buying that big reel of black antenna rope last year was a good idea.
